How to get more calories?

I've plateau'd now. The doc is telling me its because I'm not getting enough calories. I'm supposed to eat more mini-meals between meals, but because sugar is out, there's very little that I can eat that actually has any significant calories. I'm already using milk as part of my protein supplements, so a glass of plain milk is gross to me right now.

Hi Tom, I am still on full liquids. My loss has been pretty slow too. My doctor told me the same thing. Before surgery I had purchased 2 books with recipes for people who have had WLS. I have to highly recommend both of them. "Before & After: Living and Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery" by Susan Maria Leach and "Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery" by Patt Levine & Michele Bontempo-Saray. I got them both from Amazon.com. Both books are great, because they have recipes for each stage of eating. So, this week, I've started making soups. (Pureed of course.) My two favorites so far is the "Creamy Black Bean Soup" in the "Before and After" book and the "Chicken & Mushroom Soup" in the other book. Anyway, they are very tasty, they add the right calories and protein and are quite satisfying! Time to get creative, Tom! Lori

Hey Tom Just out of curiosity - how many calories did your doc tell you to try to get in? Thanks, Caren 269/241/140ish?

Tom, How many calories are you getting a day? I had my rny on 5-2 and I seem to be on my second plataeu. I've only lost 26 lb.s total and my caloric intake is between 700-800 cal.s a day. I guess if you need to boost calories, try regular cheese instead of fat free. Use 2% milk instead of skim, etc. Andrea

The doc said that I need to be getting between 900 and 1200 calories a day. I'm presently lucky if I'm getting 400-500. If I could just have a little sugar! Grrr.... Its so frustrating...hi-protein=lo calories

Its so frustrating...hi-protein=lo calories Actually Protien, Fat and Carbs are the three things that make up Calories. So you can still increase your calorie intake by increasing your protien, tho anything above 80 protien is wasted, it will increase your calories anyways. Or find something with Carbs that is loaded with Fiber and not sugar, that way you are getting the so called good carbs and not the bad to increase your calories. IE brown rice, wheat pasta, wheat bread, something to that effect. Another thing that helps IMHO is try the old Dolly Parton soup. I dont have an exact recipe, but its packed with tomatoes, cabbage, squash, zuqini (sp) and other goodies, a vegie soup that burns fat and cleans your system at the same time. Good luck

Tom, not sure what your surgeon has allowed you to eat yet, but I'm able to have peanut butter and fat free crackers. That makes a good between meal snack, and the peanut butter has some calories in it. That might be something to consider. Good luck, ~Wanda

OMG, I had the SAME problem. I transitioned to soft foods early, and have been eating crazy things, like a quarter cup of macaroni salad, in order to get my calories up. It's just that nursing 3 protein drinks over a day gets you only about 300 cal, and eating even a whole chicken breast over a day (which I don't know about you, but I find very filling) is like 150 or less. I've had to add in some fats and carbs to get there. Can you stomach some cheddar cheese? My dbf got me some cracker barrel sharp cheddar that comes in 1-oz indiv-wrapped sticks. Those are near 100 cals each, and you can really get them down in a sitting. The fat makes them hit your stomach kindof hard, though, so I usually eat it with one cracker just to break it up a bit. The string cheeses are lower fat, but feel bigger to me and have only 50 or 60 cals. I tried good-ol-calorie-dense peanut butter, and disaster ensued. Use with caution. That all having been said, I've followed a 600-700 (as opposed to 300) calorie diet for a week now, and no loss yet -- working on a 2-week plateau come this weekend if there's still no loss. But I can partly blame it on not getting my period yet, whereas that's not an option for you... Please let us know how you get started again! And let me know how you decide to increase your calories... I am definitely open to a better way than macaroni salad!! cheers, kate

Well, the docs may not quite know what they're talking about, because my weight loss restarted even though I've had NO success in getting more calories. I got weighed this morning. From 6/2 till 6/9, I lost 1 lb. From 6/9 until today, I've lost between 5 and 9 lbs. depending on how different the scales I've been measured on are. I'm just gonna keep on doing what I've been doing, and only worry if I get into an extended plateau.